Paint it Pink

All posts tagged Paint it Pink

I’m taking this week off to relax, hang with family and work on something completely different. I’ve resigned myself to not getting all three theme forces done (Clash of the Titans) by Templecon, so I’m going to finish off the Skorne force, as well as this side project. If I get the Cryx done, it’s a bonus.

On a not very well related note, the voting for the Paint It Pink painting competition has finally come in. The pink Butcher Army took Best Privateer Press Army, as well as Best Army.

As a result of the army’s success in the competition, it will be going up for auction. I’m not sure where or how, or what specific charity the funds will go to. As soon as those details are ironed out you can be sure I’ll posting about them.

Two weeks ago was the last week of our Slow Grow League. In order to hit the 35pt T4 mark, I had to paint up a pair of Manhunters. I’m really happy that there are two sculpts – both look fantastic, and have loads of personality.

The manhuntress is spring loaded and ready to go, while the Manhunter is basically mid-stride and about to lop off some heads.

When led by Yuri, they ignore forests completely, as well as any models or obstructions inside a forest. Rawr!

With those two solos done, the army is done for 35pts. I’ve submitted it to the Paint it Pink painting competition, and we’ll see how it does!

It was just one of those days. The idiot cartographer had led them to the wrong village and they’d mistakenly slaughtered loyal Khadorans. Again.

*sigh* Sometimes, you just can’t catch a break. Unfortunately, the Butcher of Khardov cut the cartographer’s head off once the mistake was realized.

Yesterday was the last main game night for the slow grow league, and I was lucky enough to get to face Ron, a new player to tabletop games. He’s done some fantastic modeling of Torch and Strakov, and has really taken the game by storm. We were playing at 35points this week, and it was the first time at this point level for both of us – his first 35pt game ever, and my first 35pt game fully painted and Teir 4.

Earlier this week, I was asked on the PP forums to elaborate more on my process for painting my Khador Black and Pinks. Since I’m painting a Kodiak for this last 2-week bracket of the Slow-Grow league, I figured it would be a great opportunity to go more in-depth and explain my process.

Step 1: Blocking

It’s also called basecoating, but essentially what I’m doing here is figuring out what panels or areas will be what color. This stage is super important while you’re figuring out a scheme. Once you have a scheme though, it’s mostly just copying what you’ve done before.

One important thing I should say here – these base coats will be underneath everything else you paint. I realize it’s not glamorous (like free hand painting or washing can be), but it’s incredibly important to get these first few layers thin and smooth.

For the Kodiak, I have to do two coats of GW Foundation Astronomicon Grey over all the areas that will be pink. This will brighten up the pink considerably.

Next, all the metal areas get a coat of GW Boltgun Metal. Then, the Smokestacks get some bronze, as does the face. Lastly, I go over all the pink areas with two coats of P3 Murderous Magenta. Since this is a dark color over a light color, I have to be super careful about brush strokes. So, I make sure that on the first coat, I keep all my brush strokes going in the same direction. This will make it easier to go perpendicular to them next time. By brushing in a perpendicular direction, there’s no chance for paint to build up in lines, and no chance for thin spots so you’ll maintain a nice, smooth surface.

Step 2: Pink

The first layer of pink is a mixture of Murderous magenta and Carnal Pink, in a roughly 4:1 ratio. It’s just a touch lighter than pure Murderous Magenta. (I have a mixture of 2:1 MM:CP which I use as my mid-tone, so I use equal parts of that and Carnal Pink, which achieves a roughly 4:1 ratio). This layer covers roughly 50% of the pink areas, bordering the panels. This layer isn’t really meant to be a big difference, it’s mostly meant to ease the next layer, so that it’s not as abrupt.

The next layer is 2:1 MM:CP, and covers half the previous layer. This layer is more visible, and really helps set the tone for the pink. The base coat screams hot pink, but this layer is sort of a bubblegum color and that helps temper the outrageous-ness of the hot pink.

The second to last layer is 1:1 CP and that 2:1 mixture, so it’s pretty darn light. Like last time, this layer is half the width of the previous. It’s basically a brush-width. I call this step “edging” because all I’m doing is picking out the edges of the armor.

The final step for the pinks is “cornering”, or picking out the corners. On any type of hard armor, the corners wear the paint off the fastest, and they tend to catch the light fairly well. I pick out the corners of the armor with pure CP, and this could be interpreted as wear, or light, or what have you. Where all the other layers help define the shape of the armor panels, this layer emphasizes the 3-dimensionality of the model.

Step 3: Black

For my blacks, I go straight from the basecoat to a layer of pure Coal Black covering 50% of the area, just like the first layer of the pink. I skip the next layer, and go straight to the “edging”, which is a mixture of Coal Black and Frostbite, at about 2:1.

The “cornering” is pure Frostbite. Once the cornering was done, I went over anything that will be gold with Boltgun Metal. P3’s Shining Gold can be thin, so the Boltgun Metal gives it a lighter made, and unifies the gold (gold would look a bit different over pink than over black).

So that’s my pinks and blacks for my Khador Army. Nothing terribly complex, and zero blending of any sort. It’s all about brush control and keeping the lines smooth.

After I got done with the black “edging”, my camera batteries died, so you’ll just have to wait for Wednesday’s Clash of the Titans to see the finished model.